The present disclosure relates to a 3-dimensional operation input apparatus for operating a GUI (Graphical User Interface), a control apparatus for controlling the GUI in accordance with operational information, a control system including those apparatuses, a handheld apparatus, and a control method.
Pointing devices, particularly a mouse and a touchpad, are used as controllers for GUIs widely used in PCs (Personal Computers). Not just as HIs (Human Interfaces) of PCs as in related art, the GUIs are now starting to be used as an interface for AV equipment and game devices used in living rooms etc. with, for example, televisions as image media. Various pointing devices that a user is capable of operating 3-dimensionally are proposed as controllers for the GUIs of this type (see, for example, Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3).
Patent Document 1 discloses an input apparatus including angular velocity gyroscopes of two axes, that is, two angular velocity sensors. Each angular velocity sensor is a vibration-type angular velocity sensor. For example, upon application of an angular velocity with respect to a vibrating body piezoelectrically vibrating at a resonance frequency, Coriolis force is generated in a direction orthogonal to a vibration direction of the vibrating body. The Coriolis force is in proportion to the angular velocity, so detection of the Coriolis force leads to detection of the angular velocity. The input apparatus of Patent Document 1 detects angular velocities about two orthogonal axes by the angular velocity sensors, generates, in accordance with the angular velocities, a signal as positional information of a cursor or the like displayed by a display means, and transmits it to a control apparatus.
Moreover, Patent Document 3 discloses a 3-dimensional operation input apparatus that includes an operation member capable of moving within a window hole provided on an upper surface of a casing by being slid 2-dimensionally. The input apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 3 outputs positional information of the operation member with respect to the window hole to an apparatus main body. The apparatus main body executes processing involving moving a position of a cursor based on the positional information or the like.
Incidentally, input apparatuses that output a movement of a casing itself as a movement amount of a cursor, the input apparatuses being typified by the input apparatuses disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, are generally provided with, in addition to various sensors for detecting movements of the casing, a command input key mainly typified by left and right buttons or a wheel button of a mouse. When issuing some kind of a command to an icon as an operation target, a user operates a pointing device to place a pointer (cursor) on an arbitrary icon and presses the command input key. However, there are cases where, when the user performs an input with the command input key using the 3-dimensional operation input apparatus, the pointing device itself is moved by an operation caused when the command input key is pressed, and the pointer is consequently moved according to the pointing device. As a result, there arises a problem that operations unintended by the user are made, like the pointer is moved from the icon as the operation target and a command cannot be issued, or, though intended for a click operation, by the pointer moving while the user is pressing the button, a drag operation is made.
To solve the problems as described above, Patent Document 2 discloses processing in which, while an enter operation is being made by the pointing device (remote commander), that is, while the button is pressed, the pointer is not moved.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-56743 (paragraphs [0030] and [0031], FIG. 3)    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 3,264,291 (paragraphs [0062] and [0063])    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-63228 (paragraphs [0012] and [0026], FIG. 1)
However, for a signal of an enter operation to be generated and a display output of the pointer to be stopped, a user needs to press the button a certain amount since starting the press so that a switch is turned on. Therefore, an operation unintended by the user may be made when the input apparatus is tilted during a period from when the user has started to press the button to when the switch is turned on.
In the pointing device (remote-controller-type input apparatus) disclosed in Patent Document 3, the user moves the operation member inside the window hole with a thumb to thus move the pointer to an arbitrary icon on the screen, and thereafter carries out an enter operation by pressing the operation member. Also in this case, the operation member may move inside the window hole during a period from when the user has started to press the operation member to when the switch is turned on, with the result that an operation unintended by the user is made. In this case, in particular, there is a problem that, as long as the user does not press the operation member vertically with respect to the pointing device, the pointer moves on the screen before the switch is turned on.
Therefore, it is desired to provide techniques of an input apparatus, a control apparatus, and the like with which an image displayed on a screen can be prevented from being moved unintentionally in a case where a user operates an operation section provided to the input apparatus.